Mission, setup and tournament rules:We played ITC missions with a few modifications. The first mission was Retrieval. The objectives in the deployment zone were on the far right and the far left. Two other objectives were across from each other on the right side of the table. I was able to choose deployment zone so I picked the one with the objective on the right to be closer to all the objectives.

Narrative retelling of the game: Commander Blindeye surveyed the wind swept ruins as the morning sun broke the horizon. Though his true eyes had long been burned beyond repair the custom sensor suite of his battlesuit provided him with a vast wealth of tactical knowledge about his surroundings. Despite it being the early hours of the morning it was already swelteringly hot. The wind swept dunes of this desert world were dotted with ancient cargo containers slowly being eroded by the constant sandblasting. To the commanders left a massive crane, wreckage of imperial industry on this world, towered over the battlefield.

Reconnaissance drones had shown significant imperial forces were still present in the sector. Suddenly alerts began to pop up across the Commanders field of vision as the enemy forces began to show themselves. The forces of the Adaptus Mechanicus were concentrated in two fighting contingents. Directly in front of him, Blindeye could see two towering Kastelan and a Datasmith and the shimmering tazers of two Dragoons, as he watched a crab like Dune Crawler clanked from behind a ruined building reading to fire. He noted several Vanguard infantry advancing into what they believed to be good cover and capitalizing on their vulnerability sent orders for two fire teams to prioritize them as a target. At that same moment far to the left Two more Dune Crawlers a Tech Priest and another Dragoon appeared. Blindeye took immediate action signaling the Cadre to halt and find cover. To his left and right three fire teams ran to take cover behind cargo containers Marker Drones hovering overhead ready to light up the enemy. Longstrike and his fellow Hammerhead pilot took evasive maneuvers as the shots of the imperial war machines whistled overhead charged with destructive force. One shot struck the Hammerhead but much of its power was dispersed by the advanced Tau armor.

Blindeye signaled for his men to return fire prioritizing the two Kastelans that according to his sensors were reading to unleash a massive ranged bombardment. The Hammerhead’s missile barrage and ion shots rang out the forward Kastelan was overwhelmed by the weight of fire and collapsed a pile of shouldering wreckage. Now hot lead, plasma and ion filled the air between the two armies adding to the already considerable heat of the day. The Strike teams began to volley fire at the Vanguard, caught in the open the unrelenting pulse fire soon brought the infantry down to the last man. Blindeye was encourage by the fact his men were first to bloody the enemy. It was then Blindeye noticed the enemy commander. Though partially concealed in a ruin. Cawl was relatively unprotected, quickly calculating the risks Blindeye decided the opportunity was too good to pass up. He quickly sent word to the air caste pilot overhead and within moments the shadow of a Manta passed over the raging firefight.

Crisis suits thrusters burning rained down on the unsuspecting imperial forces. Plasma and pulse fire from the accompanying Gun Drones directed by Markerlights severally damaged Cawl and a nearby Dragoon but failed to destroy either. As the Manta passed over the Dune Crawlers to the far left on the other side of the crane two more Crisis Commanders dropped from the Manta fusion blasters white hot aimed for the Dune Crawlers.

Suddenly a distress call rang out over Blindeyes private command channels. His fellow Commanders targeting arrays were failing. The intense head of the day had fried the circuitry of their suite their fusion shots veering wildly off target. Blindeye furrowed his brow in sorrow and frustration as he knew only the element of surprise would have allowed his fellow Commanders to succeed and survive their mission. In an act of desperation, his guns failing him one of the Commanders charged for the nearest Dune Crawler but with the full wait of the enemies overwatch upon them he was forced to break away badly wounded.

The Commander reeling from his wounds was gunned down by a shot from the tech priest emerging from behind the Dune Crawlers. The Kastelan’s shots shredded several more Fire Warriors. The damage Dragoon lowered his sizzling lance and charged towards the Crisis suits his mechanical steed allowing him to quickly close the distance. Cawl followed close behind his mechanical limbs darting to repair the Dragoon. The crisis suits plasma guns burned blue against the red sands of the desert the already badly damaged Dragoon despite Cawls best efforts could not withstand the overwatch and collapsed Cawl emerging from the wreckage struck out at the Crisis Shas’Vre, his energized blades humming with menacingly. At the last possible second savior protocols kicking in three Gun Drones boosted down to intercept the attacks. Elsewhere one of the fusion commanders found himself cornered by another dragoon though he tried to dodge his attacks as he worked to override his targeting systems but when with a thrust of a lance the Dragoon glanced his armor the intense voltage fried the commander’s suits systems and the pilot inside. Blindeye cursed his enemy. The powerful guns of the Dune Crawlers targeted Longstrike and this time caused some serious damage to his gunship. One engine smoking Longstrike expertly piloted his damaged craft into hiding behind some ruins. The third dragoon charged into one of the Striker teams who rose up firing against the impending charge, unable to stop the charge the Firewarriors following their commander’s orders began to withdraw but not before several were electrified by the Dragoon’s tazer lance.

Sensing now was the moment to swing the momentum of the battle back in his favor Blindeye signaled to the Crisis team, in one fluid motion they boosted away from the combat firing down on Cawl cooking him with volley after volley of heated plasma, the shots boring clean through him Cawl collapsed into the sands. The Hammerheads despite moving managed to land precise shots into the final Kastelan destroying the robot thanks to the guidance of the marker drones. The remainders of the other two squads of Strikers backed by their Fireblade began to volley fire at the Dragoon killing their comrades damaging it.

Then as suddenly as it had started the heated battle ended. The Mechanicus forces began to withdraw their leader slain. Though both forces had sustained heavy loses and Blindeye had lost many close friends this day he knew he had achieved a tactical victory. Had the enemy not withdrawn, needed else where in the war raging across this world Blindeye was concerned that his lack of remaining heavy firepower would have proven to much to win the day...

What actually happened:Due to time the game ended at the bottom of turn 3. Though we had both made some good moves his failure to protect Cawl from Manta Strike and the fact he forgot about his reserves really hurt him. If it had gone on I was worried I may have not been able to stay on the table as his three Dune Crawlers were larger uncontested with all of my QFC dead. At the end of the battle we both were holding two of the objectives so for Eternal war we were tied 4 points each. For Maelstrom objectives I had managed to score both every turn where my opponent had missed a few so I was well ahead by the end of turn 3, netting me 8 points and my opponent 0. Finally I had line breaker with the Crisis team, Slay the Warlord and Big Game Hunter with the death of Cawl. Overall 15-4 Tau Victory. It was a fun game cannot wait for next months tournament!

Another battle report from the second game of the tournament from this past Sunday.

Mission, setup and tournament rules:We played ITC combined mission three. This is the mission based on killing enemy units, most power level killed wins Eternal War. The deployment was diagonal across from each other. The Maelstrom objectives were evenly spaced two on each side. The middle had a king of the hill objective that gave a bonus point at the end of the mission. The Marines all deployed in a line along the edge of their deployment zone from one objective to the other, the Landraider in the center containing Vulkan, the chapter Ancient, the Veterans and the Marines with Flamers. I deployed my Fire Warriors in two groups on the objectives. The Crisis and Commanders were put in Manta reserves. The Hammerheads were stuck in the back between the objectives deep in my deployment. The Marker drones and missile commander were placed next to the left most objective beside the Fire Warrior squads.

Here is a picture from turn one you can see the deployment and objective layout (and you can see my space Marine opponents hair as he bends down to check LOS right after demolishing my Hammerhead with a single Volley from the Landraider).

Narrative retelling of the game: The grating and clanking of metal on metal echoed across the cold stone expanse. Blindeye had to admit it was an impressive sight, the sheer weight of armored manpower. Green powered armor rose and fell as the Space Marines marched steadfastly towards the Tau lines, their banners and sigils rising high above their backs depicting fire-breathing lizards. In the center of their lines a tracked vehicle of colossal size bristling with heavy weapons rumbled forward.

Blindeye had had his Cadre dig into ancient ruins that rose from the rocks. The Fire Warriors knelt shoulder to shoulder as their enemy moved steadily closer. The ground began to shake as the Adaptus Astrates forces neared the Tau position. “Steady, steady, hold fire.” Blindeye instructed his squads. The imperial vehicles weapons suddenly flashed. Beams of immense energy and destructive power cutting right over Blindeye’s suit into the Hammerhead to Blindeyes right like a hot knife through butter, sending it careening into the ground a smoking wreck. Shaken Blindeye cursed to himself switching to all channels comm. “Open fire. Manta’s on my mark… commence drop procedures. Prioritize the enemy heavy vehicle.”

Within seconds of the order the battle erupted all around Blindeye. In a flash Blindeye’s Commanders dropped into the fray unleashing white hot fusion blasts into the imperial vehicle. Though the imperial armor was incredibly thick the barrage of high energy projectiles ripped right through it. Smoldering it continued to roll forward for a few seconds before slowly lurching to a halt. For a moment all was still then from the burning wreckage came the enemy, Marines armed with close combat weapons bearing scaled shields and holding smoldering flamers walked calmly from the smoke towards the enemy lines. Blindeye was dumbfounded… did this enemy know no fear?

Crying “For the Greater good,” Blindeye’s Fire Warriors stood unleashing a rain of pulse rounds into this new enemy. The space Marines began to return fire bolts of heated lead cutting into several Fire Warriors who fell lifeless only to be replaced by their squad mates cursing their enemy pulse rifles blazing. Several Marines fell but they continued to advance unhindered. Longstrike over comms yelled out “for my brother.” Unleashing a deadly payload of missiles and overcharge Ion from his gunship into the enemy decimating the advancing marines. As the fires cleared three Marines remained. One carrying a flamer marched on as if unaware of his fallen brothers; the other two seemed to be bigger than their comrades, their armor more elaborately decorated. Blindeye quickly deduced they were leaders of some kind. Far to the left behind the Imperial lines Blindeye could see the blue light of plasma discharge and several Marines falling, he could see several Marine squads pulling away from the advance to meet this new threat. His plan was working.

To Blindeye’s amazement, the three marines continued to come. Shouting out encouragement to their remaining brothers. Although hit by countless pulse shots the Marine with the flamer strode forward dousing the ruins in flames. Recoiling the from the flames the Fire Warriors only had seconds before the single man was upon them wading into the Tau ranks frantically striking out. Quickly from the shock of this insanely courageous act, the Tau Fire Warrior struck back, finally the lone Marine fell, beaten down by the butts of the Tau Rifles. “Concentrate fire on their leader.” Blindeye commanded and all targeting systems focused in on the hulking figure of the Marine commander. Despite being struck by countless shots the Marine shrugged them off calling for death to his enemies he slammed into the Tau lines cutting down Fire Warriors left and right with his bloody spear.

Else were on the battlefield the Marines were being slowly but surely picked apart by the relentless Tau firepower. Blindeye called for a status report from his Crisis team. Only a broken static returned. He saw in the distance desperate engagement unfolding. The Crisis team’s weapons had cut down many marines, plasma shots boring holes through power armor. The sheer number of the enemy eventually overwhelmed them. As he watched, he saw the last Crisis fall riddled with bolter shots but not before gunning down a few more Marines.

“Pull back.” Blindeye ordered his men and they broke away from the imperial commander. Now the entire remaining Tau forces combined their firepower peppering the Space Marine’s leader. With a final desperate howl the man fell. “Advance and clean up.” Blindeye ordered and the Tau forces moved forward to finish the imperial stragglers. Though victorious, the victory had cost many lives. Deeply shaken by the bravery and feriousity of this foe Blindeye contemplated this enemy determining they were truly noble warriors a force to be reckoned with.

What actually happened:This was a super back and forth game. My favorite from the tournament.I lost first turn even with the +1 to the roll and failed to seize. Then immediately lost a Hammerhead and some Fire Warriors to the accurate Space Marine shooting. I retaliated with my reserves making short work of the Landraider with the help of both QFC. The exposed cargo were withing rapid fire range of the Firewarriors and with the help of Longstrike I managed to kill all but one of the flamer Marines and all the veterans but Vulkan and the Ancient survived unharmed as they weren't target-able. The Plasma Crisis and Drones landed behind his lines to the far left of the Board picking off his exposed Captain and thinning down his body count in that part of the board.

During his turn 2 he pulled two squads (one tac and one primaris) on the left back to deal with the plasma Crisis killing all the drones and wounding a Crisis with his shooting. The long Marine flamed the nearby Fire Warriors. His other Marines shot and killed one of the fusion commanders and damaged the other. The other 5 Primaris Marines moved to hold the center objective. He then charged Vulkan and the lone flamer Marine into the Fire Warriors his charge failed with Vulkan despite a re-roll which was a big turning point in the game. The Primaris Marines and Tacs on the left charged the Crisis suits but didn't get much done. The flamer Marine was felled by the Fire Warriors in close combat. During my turn 2 the Surviving the surviving QFC gunned down 4 Primaris Marines and the final one was finished by the Fire Warriors on the right. The surviving plasma Crisis fell back from combat with the Marines and fired killing a few more bracing for another charge the next turn.

The rest of my army shot at Vulkan but failed to even wound him! The last two turns went quickly as we both had lost many forces by that point. The Crisis on the left killed the last Primaris Marine in over watch as he charged but eventually fell to the few remaining tactical Marines shooting. In the center Vulkan was killed by a few good hits from Longstrike and Rapidfire pulse shots back by the Fireblade before he could do much more damage. The last Tacs killed the remaining QFC and were joined by the chapter ancient but my shooting was widdling them away. My opponenet conceded at the bottom of turn 4 as we were nearing the end of time and he was running out of models. I only had a handful of Firewarriors, the Fireblade, Longstrike, the Missiles commander and Marker Drones left but it was enough. In the end a 19 -0 Tau victory as I had killed more points, secured more Malestrom objectives and had all of the bonus objectives though I don't remember them now. Great game very back and forth and nice opponent.